The Secretary is not Responsible for Drafting the Minutes

There are two attributes of minute-taking that justify assigning this task to the staff, rather than to a director, or as was expected under the traditional model, to the organization’s secretary.

First, there is nothing “policy-oriented” about taking the minutes of a board of directors’ meeting. It is an important task, to be sure, but it is not a policy development activity. Therefore, it is logical for the minutes to be taken by a staff person, rather than having a director spend their board participation time on this operational task.

Second, minute-taking is a skill that everyone does not equally possess. Consequently, the NPO is better served if a staff member is trained to fulfil this vital role. The result will be for the board to have a consistent and higher standard of recording the board of directors’ business from one meeting to the next.

🖥️ Train staff in the skill of minute taking using our ‘Minutes of Meeting’ course